All Black Lives Matter: seeking justice for Sheku Bayoh

Have you heard of Sheku Bayoh?

Sheku Ahmed Tejan Bayoh, a Sierra Leonean man who worked for British Gas and had two young children, died on 3rd May 2015, after being arrested by police in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He had been detained, handcuffed, pepper-sprayed, and put in leg restraints following an alleged altercation with a police officer. It is alleged that Mr Bayoh was wielding a knife, although this has not been proven.

Since the incident Mr Bayoh’s family have been given several conflicting accounts as to how and why he died – nearly a month on they still don’t know what happened.

If your answer to the first question was ‘no’, you would not be alone. Outside of Scottish news, the media coverage of this case has been thin to say the least.

Shockingly, none of the 11 officers involved have been suspended whilst investigations around the circumstances of Mr Bayoh’s death continue. Additionally it has been reported that the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) was only called in to investigate two days after Mr Bayoh died, meaning critical time was wasted. According to his sister, Kadijartu Johnson, the family were not made aware of his death until six hours after he was declared dead in a nearby hospital.

I wrote about this case, placing it as part of a pattern and longer, more troubling history of gross misconduct and police brutality in the UK.